Bruins in good spot

Peter Chiarelli deals from strength this offseason

Credit: AP

CENTER OF MAKEOVER? The Bruins could select Tyler Seguin tomorrow as the team reshapes its roster in the offseason.

LOS ANGELES - The Bruins were not a team that needed a major overhaul this offseason.

The B’s could have stood pat, kept their roster all or mostly intact, and likely been a solid playoff team next season. The problems of last season were about questionable attitudes - for certain key individuals and at times for the team as a whole - and, of course, injuries.

But this team finally got its act together late in the season and came within a bounce of the puck of reaching the third round of the playoffs.

So unlike many of his counterparts, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was not forced to do much of a redesign this summer.

But Chiarelli & Co. found themselves in the remarkably advantageous position of being able to make all manner of changes if they so desired, flexibility afforded them by their stockpile of valuable draft choices, the depth of their roster and the supply of young NHL-ready talent waiting in the wings.

“There’s no doubt there’s a position of strength there for us,” said B’s coach Claude Julien, who flew into LAX yesterday to take part in this weekend’s NHL draft. “Now we’ve got to make sure we make the right decisions.”

Those decisions could include an effort to deal Tim Thomas, who undoubtedly would waive his no-trade clause for the chance to be a No. 1 goalie with another club. Even an effort to move center Marc Savard might make sense. Neither trade would be easy to pull off.

Chiarelli made his first significant alterations Tuesday, when he shipped talented but erratic defenseman Dennis Wideman and two draft picks to Florida for wingers Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell.

More moves may be coming before, during or after the draft begins tomorrow at the Staples Center. But Julien loved the first big trade.

“I think it’s a great deal,” he said. “I think we got ourselves a good player (in Horton), no doubt about that.”

Horton brings size (6-foot-2, 229), strong net drive and good pucks skills (31-31-62 totals in 2006-07 and 27-35-62 the next season), and should upgrade a B’s attack that was last in the NHL in goal scoring.

“The thing we were trying to address was that we needed some people who can put the puck in the net,” Julien said. “Horton is a young player who has that potential. We’re going to rely on him to prove he can still score at the pace he did when he had that great year.

“And Campbell maybe doesn’t get enough credit in that deal. But he’s a player who has grit and comes to play hard every night, which is also something we need.”

In a teleconference yesterday, Chiarelli said he has spoken with the agents for unrestricted free agents Mark Recchi and Johnny Boychuk. It was believed the B’s were not interested in keeping Recchi, so this is the first indication they may want him back.

But UFA center Steve Begin was told by Chiarelli the team would not make him an offer before July 1, and is exploring other options for the fourth-line center role. In adding Horton and either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin (via the No. 2 pick in the draft), the GM expressed satisfaction with his corps of forwards.

“Nathan is a tremendous shooter, a big body, he can skate and play physical,” Chiarelli said. “There are a lot of things to like about him. We’re going to get a highly skilled forward with the No. 2 pick. So we think at the end of the day, if we do nothing else with our forwards, we’ve added an established, big, power forward shooter, and a really speedy young-legs skill guy. So we’re happy with that.”